


Overlooked

by HobblyWobbly



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, M/M, more or less a big character study than romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 16:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13275405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HobblyWobbly/pseuds/HobblyWobbly
Summary: Not one detail was ever to be overlooked- not until he arrived.Osiris learns that Saint-14 has entered the Infinite Forest, but makes no move to confront him.





	Overlooked

Not one detail could afford being overlooked in the Infinite Forest; one mistake and it may cause his death that, at this far in his research, Osiris could never chance. Even the tiniest details such as finding that one rock was placed two steps to the left in one reality than in another were unable to be mislooked.

The shelves in his study (a reality that he found was forgotten by the Vex) were crowded with books noting all these differences and he had disorganized stacks haphazardly lying about on the floor. Osiris discovered early in his exploration that new realities were created every millisecond by the Vex who were constantly adapting to new weaponry and fighting patterns their enemies have developed.

Thus came the Reflections that, constructed out of Vex corpses and his own Light, were able to withstand a reality’s change and always report back to him without any consequences. Not one detail was ever to be overlooked- not until he arrived.

“A Guardian has stepped into the Infinite Forest,” the Reflection watched his creator continue pacing around in what Osiris deemed a study. Sagira flew alongside him, commenting on certain things he was documenting and side-eyeing the Reflection. “He has already survived past two areas.”

“Hm,” Osiris didn’t even look up from the book he was writing in. It was only when Sagira forced the book shut using her own shell that he finally looked up and gave his Reflection very limited attention. “Did you learn anything else?” He asked snappishly.

Guardians came into the Infinite Forest numerous times only to never return and die in one of the simulated realities. There was no time for him to meddle with the affairs of other Guardians who blindly followed the Cult of Osiris’s teachings or were futile from the beginning when they got stuck fighting a daemon.

“The Vex Mind is growing stronger with every passing moment.” It was as if a switch had gone off making the Reflection’s earlier report about the new Guardian forgotten. Giving his golden copy a quick nod, Osiris gave Sagira a glare before flipping the book open once again. Minutes passed until Osiris became satisfied with the information he had learned and waved the Reflection off, retreating back into the safety of his study. Sagira, however, wasn’t finished with the Reflection of Osiris.

“Hey,” Sagira greeted the distorting image with the blip of her single eye in what they all knew was a smile. The Reflection just gave her a blank stare like all the others did. “So… About that Guardian you were mentioning. Was he perhaps a Titan?”

“Yes.” That was all Sagira needed before high-diving further into the study where Osiris went leaving the Reflection to disappear.

* * *

Osiris soon learned that wouldn’t be the last of this Guardian. As each Reflection came to him reporting about new developments from the Vex they would also add how much progress the Titan was making. After five years had passed Osiris continued to just keep on ignoring the other’s presence. That is until Sagira decided she had enough.

“Checking up on him won’t hurt,” she said while watching the Warlock slice through Vex forces with just a single swipe from his Dawnblade. Osiris dropped back down onto the sand with his robes flowing back from the warm wind. It was all simulated of course. “He has survived for over five years here.”

“And I have been here over a century. Surviving the Infinite Forest isn’t some noble feat, Sagira, and we have more pressing matters to attend to.” Osiris waved off the matter quite literally as he brushed the bustling Ghost away and began opening an exit. He was stopped by Sagira who flew right up into his face, shell pieces extending out.

“Osiris, you can’t just keep pushing this aside. If we let this go then the Vex will get ahold of the Guardian before we do and then what?” Sagira could tell Osiris knew she was right, but she couldn’t understand why he kept pushing this aside. “What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” that got him to speak up. “If you are so curious about them why haven’t you gone off to check on them?”

“Because I think we both know who it is,” Sagira couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty when she saw Osiris’s eyes soften up at the hopefully thought only for that hopefulness to get swallowed away by that cold demeanor he always held. “He-”

“He came under the order of the Speaker most likely to drag me back,” even though Osiris had been living in the Infinite Forest for over a century he wasn’t blind to all the doings outside. Sagira knew all of this and she also knew just how Osiris would sometimes lock himself away in guilt for letting himself be exiled away. “Let’s go, Sagira,” like always Osiris had the last word in the conversation.

He stepped around the ghost and into the portal most likely leading to the next reality. Sagira only rolled her singular eye while flying after her Warlock. It was only when she noticed a portal opening up miles away that Sagira paused in her flight, hovering there above the sand waiting.

She waited for a couple of minutes watching the second portal disappear. “Sagira!” Osiris called her name from inside the Vex gate making her groan and call back, flying in through the triangle.

* * *

The Vex had begun simulating the Guardian in different realities. Osiris learned this after clearing his way through a simulated Venus and found the Guardian standing atop a cliff’s edge. All the adrenaline from the fight before had been gone in a millisecond as Osiris’s walking stopped abruptly, Sagira continuing to fly on until she noticed his sudden pause.

“What’s wrong? That radiolaria you had been tinkering with the other day isn’t backfiring is it? I told you that it was a bad idea,” the spiky ghost shook her frame like the disappointed mother she was. The amused disappointment in her voice dripped away when she saw the look in Osiris’s eyes. It was fear- pure, genuine fear. “Osiris?”

“He’s here,” just two words were all Sagira needed before spinning around towards the cliff where he stood. Each spike around her shell rose up and the ghost quickly spun around again. “But… That’s not him.” There was a sad tone to Osiris’s voice that Sagira paid no heed to.

“What do you mean that’s not him? Of course that is, silly! Would you look at him?” Osiris finally tore his eyes away to give Sagira a stern look which made her excitement briefly drop. “There is no way that’s not him. The Vex can’t simulate our Light.”

“That is exactly why that’s not him, Sagira. I’d know-” and he paused, throat closing up on him refusing to let the name escape him. For ten years he hadn’t even mentioned the Titan’s name and would force any hopes of it being him away. “I’d know Saint-14’s Light anywhere.” Saying Saint’s entire name felt as if he had just woken from a coma and the wonky friendship between them had never been there from the beginning. Sagira, noticing her guardian’s melancholy, glided over and tucked herself underneath his chin.

“At least it means he’s alive,” she said even though she knew nothing could ever truly make Osiris happy and the one thing that could was most likely fighting off Vex in another reality. “Let’s get back to the study. You look terrible,” without another word Osiris made the gate appear and Sagira flew over towards it.

When she didn’t hear his familiar footsteps she glanced over, watching Osiris stand there with his head still turned towards the fake Saint. “Osiris?” Pretending as if he hadn’t just been staring, Osiris strode off through the gate with a solemn Sagira following.

* * *

Reflections were the one creation Osiris hadn’t fully mastered. Yes, he could make over a million of them to roam the vast Infinite Forest and report back to his study with their findings, but he could never understand how they could perceive emotions from events that don’t involve them. The annoyance with this fact only grew stronger when a Reflection entered his study with a bowed head and heavy steps in what Osiris knew was his own way of showing guilt and sadness.

He sat there among the scattered papers pressing a radiolaria stained rag to a wound in his right clavicle just before it reached the scapula. Even now Osiris couldn’t help a shamed chuckle leave his lips; oh how Sagira would be scolding him now for using a stained rag and a radiolarian stained rag at that! But the chuckle that left him soon was lost in the looming conversation Osiris knew would come from the Reflection that stood by the study’s entrance with those raven black eyes staring straight into his soul.

“Word has caught around with the Vex. They know you are Lightless,” the Reflection spoke what Osiris couldn’t differentiate between a sigh and a groan. Lifting himself up from his uncomfortable position, Osiris began to impatiently pace about the study with his hand applying pressure to the wound. If only he had his Light to suppress the pain. “Tossing Sagira away wasn’t the… Wisest choice.”

“It was the only choice,” Osiris snapped with his voice growing quieter by the seconds. “What would rather have me do? Keep her and lead Panoptes to the study?” His reasoning, the Reflection decided, was only added on to convince himself in some measly attempt of pushing away the guilt. “If only she hadn’t picked up on that half skirt wearing idiot’s Light…”

“It would seem that Saint-14 is our only hope of defeating Panoptes. Without Sagira we have no Light and without our Light there is no-” just before the Reflection could finish speaking a stray book nearby Osiris got tossed in their direction. The book went through the being and straight into a bookcase that sent the ancient structure toppling over. Papers, ink bottles, and other needed utensils came pouring out onto the floor making the growing mess worsen. “Osiris-”

“Leave me.” With a single command that got spat out, the Reflection got sent back into the void from whence it came. Osiris slumped back down onto the ground so suddenly that the rag being pressed against his wound soften and made blood start dripping again. He watched the drops splatter across his tattered robes from a home that he once fought to save and now could no longer see again.

For a brief moment, he expected Sagira to come buzzing over to scold him while bumping into his head, her chiding turning into half-hearted teasing about his bald head. When the moment ended and Osiris’s logical self-kicked back in there wasn’t much he could truly do except sit there amongst the mess wondering if this was the exilement he truly deserved.

* * *

Osiris wasn’t alone.

“Come back with me to the Tower,” the statement spoke out over the rushing wind held a determination that Osiris couldn’t help rolling his eyes at. Instead of responding back he held his hands behind his back while allowing the Mars’s simulated breeze skitter past his robes. “The Vanguard would gladly accept you back now that you’ve made discoveries in your research.”

“What about the Speaker?” Osiris added in with the rise of an eyebrow. He couldn’t help staring at his old friend who froze up a bit more that seemed too human to be fake.

“Father is… Dead. He was killed upon capture on the Immortal,” he’d be lying if he said that those mumbled words didn’t send a pain into his heart. Osiris would also be lying if he said he had a heart. “Osiris,” the Titan beside him turned so that the two were face-to-face. Without a worry in the world, Osiris stared back knowing that behind that dumb helmet was that unforgettable face of the exo who had been his only friend. “Come back with me.” There was an insistence in his voice that made Osiris second guess his reply.

“I…” Another gust of hot wind brushed past the two causing the illuminating purple ribbons connected to the Titan’s hip to go flying in the air. It made Osiris remember the good days back when they were just simple guardians and Osiris saw the exo’s excited face at the overly extra decoration. “I cannot, Saint,” he ducked his head down to avoid staring at that damn helmet any longer. “I cannot.” He repeated once again to convince himself more than convincing the simulated guardian in front of him who only turned away.

When Osiris raised his head up again Saint was gone along with all of Mars around him leaving him back in the Infinite Forest standing beside a gate leading into another heart-wrenching simulation of a conversation that had already been done several times for the past three years. As Osiris began stepping through the gate into a simulated Venus he realized that these simulated Saint-14’s were the only thing keeping him sane in his Lightless state. While he might be pathetic he was anything but alone.

* * *

“And give me back my ghost!” Osiris shouted towards the crumbling corpse of the Vex Mind that fought him at every beck and turn. He lowered himself down onto the stable ground so he could properly hold Sagira’s unconscious form in his hands. Beside him stood the mute Guardian who had caught his eye upon entering the Forest and made his own Reflections quake.

“Osiris..?” Sagira’s voice was glitchy, but her single eye powered on after a couple flickers. The spiky ghost rose up from his hands a bit shakily while all her shell pieces shook around. “What- what happened? Where’s Panoptes and the- Guardian!” She interrupted herself by zooming over towards the Guardian who held an arm up in front of their own Ghost who narrowed his little eye. “Hey there, little guy.”

“Sagira,” a switch had gone off in Sagira making her realize that Osiris stood just a few feet away. Without a single word, the ghost shot off straight into his chest causing the Warlock to take a step back in surprise. Keeping one hand on his rifle, Osiris used his other hand to cup the back of Sagira in a hug. “I’m certain you have a story to tell me.”

“Yeah- wait, Osiris,” her cheery tone dropped back into that dreadful monotone Osiris couldn’t help narrowing his eyes at. “Panoptes is dead meaning the Saint-14 simulations…” Osiris opened his mouth to question her unfinished sentence, but then he remembered the mind link connection between them that must’ve flooded Sagira with information about the past three years in her absence.

“We’ll find him,” Osiris lifted Sagira up to where his lips would be in a covered kiss. His eyes briefly flicked up towards where the Guardian once stood and he couldn’t help chuckling when he saw them arguing with their own Ghost who kept complaining about being replaced. “Panoptes’s death will spread across the Forest in a matter of hours. It’s bound to find Saint.” He said this with a shaky determination, for when Osiris followed the Guardian out of the Forest with Sagira chatting his ear off about her solo journey he knew that some must’ve gone wrong in the Forest before Panoptes death.

What else could explain the absence of Saint-14 simulations?

* * *

“Saint-14’s Light… It’s gone…” Ghost’s voice bemoaned from the comm-network that laid on the desk. Osiris, who had been dozing off from not sleeping for over four days, jolted himself awake staring incredulously towards the device in disbelief.

“I… Rest in peace, my friend.” He murmured the words out in a voice loud enough for Ghost to hear and continue on with wrapping up the search. Cradling his head in his hands, Osiris sat there while Sagira bobbed by his side.

“Osiris… I’m so sorry,” she whispered and didn’t back off even when Osiris tossed the comm network across the study in anger and let out a scream. Sagira didn’t even flinch when he faced the ghost with solar energy dancing in his brown eyes. During this entire outrage, Sagira just inched closer until she was nestled just under his chin. “I’m so sorry…”

* * *

“I killed him,” Osiris declared into the wide room without a moving a muscle for the guilt in his stomach had become a fifty-pound immovable weight. “I killed you,” one of his gloved hands reached out to tentatively ghost over the unrising chest. Even though the armor he could see the bullet piercings that had dealt the final blow to the hero who fell in a blaze of glory. “To think I deemed the Traveler’s hero a minor detail,” what would be labeled as a chuckle left his lips. “To think I deemed my closest friend not worth my own attention,” as the minutes passed his voice grew softer and softer towards an audience who had already begun leaving the theater.

Kneeling down beside the hovering corpse that was forever suspended in the air with overly dramatic purple ribbons, Osiris let his outstretched hand rise up towards the neck he could still remember trying to strangle when they’d spar together in the Iron Temple’s training grounds. “Sagira believes you are not truly gone. She believes I can go back into the past to save you, but we both know the past is always simulated and improbably,” the hand rose up higher until it wavered just over his cheek. “If I had come to you, my friend, would you have tried bringing me back?” Osiris leaned down so that his lips were pressing against Saint’s faceplates that acted as lips. “I would’ve come,” He murmured out against the cold metal.

If someone two centuries ago told Osiris he would be kissing Saint-14’s corpse the Warlock would’ve thrown said person off the Tower, for he had been too ignorant and too selfish to recognize his own feelings towards the headstrong Titan. “Because love makes me overlook things.…”


End file.
